


Things Normal Kids Do

by Cavatica



Series: Breaking and Entering [3]
Category: Animorphs (TV), Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate
Genre: First Dates, M/M, Making Out, Panic Attacks, Police Encounter, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-07
Updated: 2017-10-07
Packaged: 2019-01-10 03:58:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12290742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cavatica/pseuds/Cavatica
Summary: Going out to dinner with your dad and stepmom doesn't count as a real date. Neither does doing what you'd just be doing anyway. Having a good time out with your alien boyfriend sounds easy. But when is anything ever easy?





	Things Normal Kids Do

**Author's Note:**

> Technically I wrote this for the prompt month that [bleck](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Bleck/pseuds/Bleck) organized. But it fits pretty neatly into the B&Everse, so I stuck it in that series. You can see the rest of the art and fics I've been writing over at [my tumblr](http://acavatica.tumblr.com). I'll be posting something new everyday in October, so don't forget to check back! Check out [the prompts at bleck's tumblr](https://miraculoussparrow.tumblr.com/post/164906900561/animorphs-prompts)!
> 
> Content warning: fairly benign encounter with a police officer, to which Marco overreacts.

“You know, usually when two guys are in the same bathroom stall, it’s for more fun reasons than the eternal struggle against the button fly,” Marco said. He glanced up at Ax, who was doing a great job pretending the ceiling tiles were at least as fascinating as last year’s _Farmer’s Almanac_. Marco went back to work on the remaining four buttons. “Why did Rachel even buy you pants with a button fly? No, never mind. I know she did it specifically to annoy me.”

“I don’t understand. Sssstan-duh.”

“This is what humans call a cockblock. A very literal execution of the concept,” Marco said. “Which is ironic, because I would not be getting so up close and personal on our first date if not for this button situation. I’m a gentleman.”

Ax furrowed his brow and puffed out a small sigh. “I believe I now understand even less. If that was an attempt at an ex-ks-ks-planation, I’m afraid you should continue to search for a more appropriate vocation. Vo-kay-shun.”

Marco snorted and shook his head. “Don’t worry about it and stop fidgeting.”

Ax held his breath and looked back up at the ceiling.

Ax had had to leave in the middle of dinner to demorph. After asking for more of those heavenly cheddar biscuits two times, Marco had decided he should probably go check on him. He’d made a lot of progress after two years of trial and error with “the illogical human convention of clothing,” but even Ax had his limits. A button fly was already advanced-level illogical clothing, even without the added complication of Ax’s Andalite claustrophobia in a bathroom stall.

Marco finished buttoning Ax’s pants and gave him a once-over. If Rachel could be counted on for one thing, it was that she was ready for a fight, no questions asked. If she could be counted on for one more thing, it was that she was going to pick out a great date outfit. The first time Marco had seen Ax tonight, he’d felt like the breath had been knocked out of him.

Now Ax was looking down at Marco, his eyes on Marco’s hands, which still lingered at Ax’s waist. Marco grinned at the way Ax flushed and chewed his lip. Slowly and carefully, he buttoned Ax’s shirt buttons, starting from the bottom. He left two unbuttoned and ran the shirt lapels between his fingers, straightening them. He could tell it was expensive. Another thing Rachel could be counted on for. Marco tugged gently on Ax’s fancy lapels, pulling his face down closer. He froze at the sound of the bathroom door opening and swore under his breath.

“You okay in there?” Marco recognized their server’s voice because she had given him a total of twelve cheddar biscuits. She probably thought they were trying to dine and dash. Not that Marco had never thought of enjoying a complimentary roll or chips and then leaving, but his dad actually had credit now.

“We need no assistance! Stents!” Ax stated authoritatively. Marco ground his forehead into Ax’s sternum. At least the shirt was soft, and at this distance Marco could really appreciate the fine pattern in the weave. He could probably come up with some way to make fun of Rachel to let her know he noticed by Monday.

“Listen, I don’t get paid enough to deal with this,” she said, her voice strained. “I just need to know if I should seat someone at your table or not.”

“No, we’re done in here,” Marco said quickly. “I promise we intend to tip generously. Just please leave and pretend this didn’t happen.”

The server sighed loudly, but Marco heard her shut the door behind her. Marco sighed and leaned back into the stall door. Ax was frowning. “I am sorry –”

Marco put his hand up. “Don’t, dude. This was my idea. Let’s just get back to our table before she tells a manager or calls the cops.”

“Have we broken the law?” Ax asked as Marco led him by the hand back to their table.

“Only laws of decency,” Marco said, settling back into the booth and stirring his raspberry lemonade with his straw. “At least I think.”

Marco opened the heavy menu again, scanning the entrees and trying not to worry about the prices. His dad had handed over his credit card and said _I’m not giving you a limit, but I trust you not to overdo it._ Marco’s life had done such a 180 in the last two years. He’d gone from having no money and barely having a dad, to being better off than ever with an overcompensating, trying-too-hard dad. He’d gone from having a dead mom to having a stepmom-slash-wannabe-tutor who wasn’t great at the whole “respecting his boundaries” thing _and_ a real mom who was an alien slave. He’d gone from having the normal kind of shitty life to having to make the conscious choice, every moment, not to start running and never stop.

He looked up at Ax. He’d gone from having a pathetic crush on his best friend to having a hot-but-bizarre, literal space alien boyfriend. So at least some things were looking up, sometimes, kind of.

“What were you thinking?” he said. “My dad and I usually get the big combo meal and split it but, uh, you know. Order whatever you want.”

“I have not tried most of this food. Foo-duh. Duh,” Ax answered, looking down at the menu like normal people would have looked at calculus problems. “What is a langostino? Lan-go-steee-no.”

“It’s not a real lobster. If you really wanna relive old times, get this.” Marco reached over and pointed at the picture of the whole lobster on Ax’s menu. Ax’s eyes went wide in recognition. Marco grinned and looked Ax in the eye. “They kill it for you here.”

“Humans are horrible,” Ax said, wrinkling his nose and lips in a way Marco thought was really cute until he realized it was Cassie’s “changing bandages” face.

“Well if you’re not getting it, I am.” Marco set his menu down. “How else will we know it’s a special occasion?”

“I don’t know,” Ax said, his mouth full of cheddar biscuit. “My date idea – aye-dee-uhh, dee uhhh – was scary movies and snacks. Snacksuh. Snax.”

Marco rolled his eyes. “That’s not a date, that’s a Tuesday.”

“Why do humans think they must be less comfortable and experience more stress to have a ‘good time’?” Ax did finger quotes and Marco almost spat out his lemonade.

“It’s the human condition, Ax-man. Maybe someday your people will study us. Hopefully not the dissecting kind of study.”

“No, I believe that is your specialty, if this menu and my firsthand experience are any indication,” Ax said, muffled by the whole biscuit he’d just shoved into his mouth. Ax looked like a hamster storing food in its cheek pouches when the server came to take their order.

Dinner passed fairly uneventfully. Ax had been spending enough time in public with Marco that it’d been awhile since Marco had to give him an “act normal” lecture. Marco could tell Ax was on his best behavior. If he was totally honest, he thought he could tell Ax was on edge. Maybe Marco had overemphasized the importance of the human ritual of the first date. At this point, Marco felt like he knew a lot about Ax. He wasn’t afraid of a lot of things. Why would he be, when he could outrun, outsmart, and outfight almost anyone? But Marco knew he was afraid of being alone and Marco knew he was afraid of disappointing people.

Marco transferred his bag of leftovers to his other hand and took Ax’s in his. Ax was looking up at the pink and purple clouds of the sunset, but Marco watched a smile spread across his lips. The falling light illuminated his hair like a halo, highlighting the reddish undertones in his brown hair and skin. Marco had always thought Ax was pretty, but he seemed even prettier now that Marco didn’t have to hide that he thought so.

“You wanna take a walk through the botanical garden?” Marco asked. They were walking leisurely in no specific direction, but it was only a short detour off Ortega. “How much time do you have?”

“Approximately seventy-six of your minutes,” Ax said. “I like the botanical garden. Cassie has taken me there. There are many unique species of flowers and trees. Yoo-neek tr-tr-treee-zuh.”

Marco tried to hide his disappointment that their first date wouldn’t be Ax’s first time there. “Well, I think I can show you a better time than Cassie.”

“I hope so,” Ax said seriously. “A duck took my churro.”

Marco led them to the park. It was tiny, but it had lots of walking paths, lots of little nooks to duck into, and enough plants that even nature freaks like Cassie were into it. Marco’s mom had been into it too, which is how he knew about it. He’d avoided it for the two years he thought she was dead. It was one of the only good things about finding out she was actually worse than dead. At least now he didn’t have to add twenty minutes to his walk to school to avoid one city block.

He’d actually always fantasized about bringing a date to this park. In his fantasies, the date had always either been a hot girl or Jake. Technically, Ax was something like three-quarters that, give or take, so Marco had to count this as a success.

Ax reached out with his free hand and ran his fingertips over the Braille letters underneath the sign for the sensory garden. Marco raised a brow and pulled at Ax’s other hand. He didn’t want to get into this again.

“No, I like this part,” Ax said obstinately. He pulled Marco in the other direction and Marco was compelled to move forward. He yanked his hand away and crossed his arms, but followed. Nothing pissed him off more than people moving him without his permission because he was small.

Ax was taking his time, touching all the differently-textured plants almost like a ritual. Marco groaned internally that maybe it was and Ax was going to waste all his morph time here instead of where Marco wanted him to go.

Marco decided he felt like gambling. “You know this part of the park is for people with disabilities, right?”

Ax, carefully rubbing a leaf between the fingers on his left hand, turned his head to look sharply at Marco. “I do. Cassie explained it to me when she brought me here.”

“And you like it?” Marco felt like he was standing on the edge of a cliff. His heart was racing and there was no way to know if it was from excitement or anxiety. Everything felt the same now, anyway.

Ax frowned and all Marco could think was how pretty his lips were and how much he wanted to kiss them, if Ax would just cooperate. “If my people had different attitudes, this garden has a very appealing concept. The mixed textures and vibrant colors are very Andalite. I wish it were possible for me to come here in my natural body. My usual sense of touch is much more refined than a human’s.”

“Ax. Are you _finally_ admitting Andalites are wrong about something?” Marco said, stunned.

“Marco. You are a brilliant tactician.”

“What’s your point?”

“I am just surprised that the same person can be so competent at battle strategy and also so absolutely lacking in interpersonal tact,” Ax said dryly. He added, under his breath, “It is almost impressive.”

A light feeling fluttered from low in Marco’s stomach up to his chest, making him sigh deeply. He took Ax’s hand again and walked backward toward where he wanted to take him. “Come with me.”

Ax didn’t protest, and instead he squeezed Marco’s hand as he followed. Marco led Ax down a winding path that led almost to the edge of the man made pond in the middle of the park. He picked a bench that was at the furthest point between two streetlights, shrouded by long fronds of some big plant with red bunches of flowers. The dim lights shimmered off the light ripples in the water. The spot he’d chosen was right in front of a cluster of lily pads. In the faint light of the waning sunset, they were almost indistinguishable from the reflections of the palms, creating an illusion that the sky was full of flowers.

“I like this park,” Ax said, his voice almost a whisper. “These floating plants remind me of my home.”

Marco set his leftovers down next to the bench and pulled Ax down almost into his lap. Marco leaned forward, bracing himself on the bench with one hand. He put a knee on either side of Ax’s leg and pushed gently on Ax’s chest until he could climb over him enough to kiss him. Ax kissed back immediately and pulled Marco in deeper with a hand on the back of his neck. Marco felt like he was melting from the inside out and let his body settle on top of Ax.

This was their first date but it definitely wasn’t their first kiss. If you looked up the word “oral fixation” in the dictionary, there would be a picture of Ax’s human morph off to the side. Ax had become a very experienced kisser in the couple months they’d been doing whatever it was that two child soldiers do when they pretend to be normal kids who kiss sometimes. They kissed _a lot_. Ax wasn’t just into fun mouth experiences, though. Ax was tuned into Marco’s responses like he’d been trained to monitor the sensor array that was the small sounds Marco made and the way he gasped and went still when Ax did something right. This was a kid who apparently slept through all his classes but not his practicals.

Marco put one hand on Ax’s cheek and the other he buried in Ax’s soft, coily hair. At the touch, Ax moaned into his mouth. He nibbled at Marco’s lower lip and thrust his tongue deeper. The sounds of crickets, frogs, birds, water, everything around them was all drowned out by the pulse Marco could feel through his whole body and their rough breaths. Every inch of Marco’s skin was alight and Ax’s fingertips felt like they could have traced a burn into him. Ax’s hand stopped at Marco’s hip, pulling him closer. Ax shifted, moving his knee up so that his thigh pressed between Marco’s legs. Marco gasped, tightened his hand in Ax’s hair, and buried his face in the crook of Ax’s neck.

**Click!**

There was a blinding flash and Marco was on his feet, one arm blocking the light from his face, his other hand a fist. His heart was pounding in his throat and his body went from overheated to ice cold. He blinked into the light, trying to make out what had… interrupted their makeout.

“What are you kids doing?” The beam of light lowered and Marco was able to take in the broad man and his black uniform. A cop. Not a Hork-Bajir. Not Visser Three. A fucking cop. Not that he couldn’t be a Controller. Not that he wasn’t dangerous even if he wasn’t.

“We are on a date. Day-tuh,” Ax explained. “This is an outing between two people who share mutual romantic interest. Ssstuh. We are both male, which is a source of friction in your society. Tee. Sci-eh-tee. However, we are just trying to have a good time. We are both young and restless.”

“God,” Marco couldn’t help but whisper. He pulled his numb hands down his face before holding them up where the cop could see them. His mouth was suddenly dry. He ran his tongue over his teeth and swallowed. “Officer. Sir. We were just about to go home. Can… can we leave?”

The officer squinted at Ax and frowned. He shined his light directly in Ax’s eyes, which made him flinch and made Marco have to swallow the fire in his throat. “Are you high?”

“No, sir,” Marco answered quickly before Ax could make it worse, keeping his tone even despite his body feeling like it was about to shake apart. “English isn’t his first language. Please, we need to get home, my dad’s expecting us.”

“Where do you live?”

Marco took a deep breath. His mom had grown up in a police state and she hadn’t left her son with nothing. “Are we being detained, officer?” he said carefully, like he had practiced it. Because he had, when he was eight years old.

The cop clicked his flashlight back off and waved it toward the park’s exit. “You’re free to go. But keep _that_ –” He gestured up and down at them with the flashlight. “In private from now on.”

Marco grabbed Ax by the wrist and walked rapidly away, checking over his shoulder until the cop started walking in the other direction. Marco was panting by the time they reached the park exit. His ears were ringing. His eyes were burning. He felt like screaming.

“Are you okay?” Ax asked.

Marco tightened his hand around Ax’s wrist until the skin surrounding his grip turned white. “No, I’m not fucking _okay_ , Ax! I go out with you all the time and you could get us killed _every single time_. Even if that cop was one hundred percent grade A, Yeerk-free human, we’re two gay brown kids and he’s a _cop_. You’ve got to learn when to keep your mouth shut!”

Ax blinked blankly at Marco like he’d just watched him kick Nora’s fucking dog across the room. Immediately, Marco’s stomach dropped and he felt like he was crashing in on himself. He let Ax go.

“Dude. Sorry. I’m sorry.” Marco sat down, right there on the sidewalk, and put his head between his knees. He tried to catch his breath. “And I forgot my fucking linguine.”

Ax hesitated, then sat down next to Marco. He didn’t touch him, and Marco was grateful. “I put forth substantial effort,” Ax said finally. “But I believe this date has been what humans call a ‘clusterfuck.’”

Marco looked up at Ax, his mouth hanging open. Like a reflex, a laugh came out of his chest. It was followed by another, until he was cackling helplessly, burying his face into the stupidly soft sleeve of Ax’s shirt. When he was finally able to calm down and sit back up, Ax’s shirt was wet. If Ax noticed, he didn’t say anything.

Marco rubbed roughly at his eyes with the heel of his palm and sniffed. “You gotta be short on time now, huh?”

“Yes,” Ax said. “I only have seventeen of your minutes left in this morph.”

“They’re everyone’s minutes,” Marco said. “You wanna come to my house, reset your time, have some snacks, watch some scary movies?”

“It is not Tuesday,” Ax teased.

“Don’t make me admit you were right all along,” Marco said, letting Ax pull him to his feet.

“Unlike humans,” Ax said, in his usual imperious tone, “Andalites do not seek constant validation.”

Marco rolled his eyes and slipped his hand back into Ax’s as they walked home.


End file.
